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User blog:GlitterInformer/Doki Doki! Pretty Cure/Glitter Force Doki Doki SDC: Episode 19 (Sub)
Episodes 17 & 18 (Sub), 13 (Dub) | Table of Contents | Episode 20 (Sub), 14 (Dub) Japanese title: “Betting the Crystals! The Jikochuu’s Game!” ' ' Welcome back to the sub/dub comparison! This episode is going to be kind of like episode 14 in that a bit of it was included in the dub, but the vast majority of it is cut. I’m sure this won’t negatively affect Glitter Force Doki Doki one bit. However, it might keep the tone serious. We’ve had the plot thickening for the past few episodes as Joe/Johnny’s identity was revealed, Regina became truly evil, and all five Royal Crystals were found. Episode 19 is kind of odd in that in the midst of all this, it’ll center around Pretty Cure playing games such as bowling and soccer against the villains. The concept of the main characters playing silly games against the villains has been done before in the last season, Smile Pretty Cure! However, Smile’s episode was a goofy filler episode, while this episode is probably important to the plot. Will this be an engaging episode, or will it just destroy the tone of this moment of the series? And will it be its own episode, or will it forever stand in the shadow of its Smile counterpart? The first scene of the episode is in the Jikochuu hideout. Regina is admiring the red Royal Crystal. Seeing how beautiful it is makes her want the others even more. Ira, Marmo, and Bel suggest she go take it from Pretty Cure (because that worked so well last time). Regina doesn’t want to just steal it from them, though. Because she’s going up against Mana, she wants to make it fun. The opening theme and the title card play. Then, we cut to Joe’s shop, where Joe has gathered with Ai and the four protagonists. Of the five Royal Crystals they need, the group currently has four, which means that they need to take the fifth from Regina. Mana is hesitant about this because she wants to avoid fighting Regina. Arisu suggests that they simply ask Regina nicely to give the crystal back (odd, because she usually doesn’t ask ditzy things like that), and Rikka says they wouldn’t be in this mess if that would work. Mana asks if there’s any way they can get the crystals back without fighting Regina. Regina suddenly appears behind her and says that she knows a way she can. Naturally, everyone is shocked to suddenly see Regina there. Ai flies up to Regina, who is happy to greet her as always. Then, Regina stares at the other four Royal Crystals and thinks that they’re just as beautiful as the red one. Before she can steal them, Makoto takes them away from her reach. Regina’s only a bit annoyed, though. She quickly regains composure and invites Mana to play a game with her. All five Royal Crystals will be betted on the game, and the winner will receive every single one. Mana asks what sort of game this will be and Regina says that she’ll see when it starts. After a bit of thinking, Mana agrees to play the game. This worries Rikka, Arisu, and Makoto, who say that it sounds way too fishy and that even if Regina’s being honest, there’s too much of a risk if they lose. Mana still wants to play Regina’s game because it’s the only way they can get the last Royal Crystal without fighting her. This makes Rikka, Arisu, and Makoto begrudgingly agree. Mana then makes Regina pinky-promise that if they win, she’ll give them her Royal Crystal. Regina is now ready to send the girls to the game world. With a snap of her fingers, she summons a suitcase Jikochuu out of nowhere, and I do mean nowhere. We don’t see any victim, so maybe she teleported the Jikochuu from the ruined Trump Kingdom to Earth. It makes you wonder why Regina doesn’t just do that all the time instead of bothering with victims on Earth. Anyway, the suitcase Jikochuu uses its vacuum breath to suck Mana, Rikka, Arisu, Makoto, and Ai into itself. Joe runs after them, but Bel stops him with a laser because Regina didn’t invite him. Bel jumps into the Jikochuu and the Jikochuu teleports away as Joe watches worriedly. The Jikochuu arrives in another world that resembles an unlit theater stage. It spits all of its occupants out onto the floor. Regina magically turns on the lights and reveals that they’re in the Game Stage, a world that she created, and they can’t leave until the game is finished. Ready to play, the girls transform. As usual, Cure Heart does her catchphrase, delivering it to Regina and the Jikochuu Trio this time. Regina tells Pretty Cure that there will be three games. Then, two tables come out of the ground. Regina puts the red Royal Crystal on one and Cure Sword puts the other four Royal Crystals on the other. With the Royal Crystals set aside, the first game begins: soccer. Well, it’s not full-blown soccer. That involves dodging a bunch of players to kick a ball into the goal. This just involves penalty kicks, which involve one kicker each and one goalie each. Whichever team can get the most goals wins. Cure Sword goes first, providing offense while Bel acts as the goalie. She easily kicks the ball into the goal because Bel doesn’t even react. Instead of doing anything at all to catch the ball, he just stands there and silently chuckles. Then, it’s Cure Rosetta’s turn. She’s being the goalie against Ira. Ira kicks the ball lightly, so Rosetta thinks she’ll have an easy time. Then, the ball comes alive. It turns out it’s a tiny Jikochuu. As the Jikochuu jumps up, Rosetta blocks it with her arms. However, after falling to the ground, the Jikochuu just picks itself up and runs into the goal. Cure Diamond and Cure Sword accuse Regina of cheating because using a Jikochuu as a ball isn’t allowed. Regina says that this is her world and her game, so she makes the rules. Then, it’s Cure Diamond’s turn. Like Sword, Diamond is kicking a ball into Bel’s goal. This time, the ball is a Jikochuu. It runs around so that Diamond can’t kick it. Eventually, Diamond is unable to stop the Jikochuu from jumping right into Bel’s arms. It’s Regina’s turn to go against Cure Rosetta. Regina kicks the ball but misses, and it goes way above the goal. However, the goal is a Jikochuu as well. It comes alive and stretches way upward to allow the ball in. Rosetta blocks the ball from getting in by using Rosetta Reflection. However, the goal uses its eyes to shoot a laser at Rosetta, knocking her over. It then uses a hand to pick up the ball and put it inside itself, giving Regina the point. Now, the villains are winning 2-1. It’s then Cure Heart’s turn to go against Bel. This is Pretty Cure’s final chance to score a goal, so if Heart doesn’t get the ball in, they’ll lose the game. Heart kicks at the ball, but the ball dodges. Then, while the ball tries to run away, Heart kicks again and hits the ball this time. The ball shoots toward the goal, and even though Bel lunges for it, he misses. It seems like Heart is going to win after all. Then, the goal comes alive and shutters itself, causing the ball to bounce away after all. Thus, the villains win the soccer game. However, there are two games left, so Pretty Cure still has a chance. The next game is bowling. The villains go first. Since they practically live in a bowling alley, they all get strikes with ease in the first round. Even Ira gets a strike even though all we’ve seen from him for the entire series is gutter balls. When it’s Pretty Cure’s turn, they find out the nasty trick Regina has in store for them this time. While each villain got the standard 10 bowling pins, each Pretty Cure gets well over that. And to beat the villains, they have to get a strike, which means knocking down every single one. Cure Diamond goes first and rolls her ball straight down the center of the lane. It seems like she might just get a strike after all. Then, the bowling pins reveal that they’re all Jikochuu as well. They scoot out of the way of Diamond’s ball, so Pretty Cure gets 0 pins down on the first round. Sharuru, Raquel, and Lance panic, convinced that they’re going to lose their Royal Crystals after all. We get the eyecatches. Then, we cut back to the bowling alley, where Cure Heart has a plan. They gather into a huddle, where she whispers the plan to the others. Then, Cure Rosetta steps in to bowl next. As she prepares to throw the ball, she does a high-speed twirl that she perfected in ballet class. This twirl puts a lot of force on the ball, so when she releases it, it rockets forward at a very high speed. The bowling pins dodge as usual, but this is exactly what the team was planning for. Cure Sword uses Sparkle Sword, which is no longer useless. The attack creates two walls of daggers surrounding the Jikochuu. The walls close in, forcing them back into the center of the lane. This allows Rosetta’s ball to hit some of them, though most of them are on the left and right and are still left standing. Heart tries to take down the rest of them, but her ball ends up going right down the center, where it won’t hit any of the remaining pins. Fortunately, Ai steps in and magically clones the ball. This results in an advancing V-formation of balls that takes up the entire lane, knocking over all of the pins. Since Pretty Cure knocked over way more pins than the villains did, they end up winning the bowling game. As Rosetta, Sword, and Diamond celebrate their victory, Heart tells Ai that she did a great job. Ai then says her first word: “gweat”. The entire group is delighted to hear Ai speak for the first time. Sword is completely overtaken by this cute moment and echoes, “Gweat!” When Dabi points this out, Sword gets extremely embarrassed and the others can’t help but laugh. The third and final game, upon which everything rests, is dodgeball. Regina appoints Ai as the referee, so the baby can’t use her powers to help Pretty Cure again. The game starts. Since all of the balls are Jikochuu, they throw themselves at Pretty Cure, so the villains don’t even have to lift a finger. All of the girls show themselves to be quite good at dodging, though. Diamond uses Diamond Shower to freeze the balls, disabling them. Regina then uses some freezing powers of her own. With a snap of her fingers, she turns the court’s floor into ice. Then, there’s a confusing moment. Regina throws a ball at Cure Sword. She blocks it with her forearm, but that still means it hits her, so Sword should be out. Then, as the ball is about to hit the floor, Heart catches it instead of letting it fall. The rules of dodgeball are that you’re not allowed to get hit, not that the ball isn’t allowed to touch the floor. So for no reason whatsoever, Heart touched the ball and thus should have gotten herself out. But nobody comments on this, so Sword and Heart are still in the game even though they shouldn’t be. Maybe I’m just wrong about the rules of dodgeball, but the very name of the game means that you have to dodge the balls. Not block the balls, not catch the balls, dodge ''the balls. Ira tries to throw another ball at Pretty Cure, but Marmo stands in front of him, so he can’t. He tells Marmo to get out of the way, but she refuses. Angered, Ira throws his ball at Marmo. When it hits her, it makes her absolutely enraged. Ira tries to say that his hand slipped, but Marmo doesn’t believe him and throws the ball back at Ira. Ira dodges, so the ball hits Bel in the face, bruising him and breaking his sunglasses. Bel gets so angry that he throws the ball at Ira and Marmo. They dodge, and the ball hits Regina in the leg. Regina throws her ball at Bel, and a full-on dodgeball game of villain against villains ensues, with them completely forgetting about Pretty Cure. Eventually, Ai blows her whistle at the villains. She only says, “Kyupi!”, but everyone else is able to tell (probably from context) that Ai is announcing that the villains have forfeited the match. Thus, Pretty Cure wins the entire contest. The game world turns from a dodgeball arena into the stage as which it started out. Cure Heart tells Regina to remember her promise and give the red Royal Crystal to them. Regina is very upset about having to give up the precious crystal, nearly to the point of tears. When she looks at the red Royal Crystal, sparkles appear in her eyes and she refuses to give it up. Cure Sword says that they need the Royal Crystals to find someone precious to them, but Regina says she needs them, too. Cure Diamond then says that Mana knew the game could have been a trap when she agreed to play it, but she chose to participate anyway because she trusted Regina. Upon hearing that Mana trusted her, Regina’s eyes temporarily go back to their natural blue color, and she becomes hesitant to break her promise. Then, Ira, Marmo, and Bel tell her to just break her promise. Regina wonders if she can really do that, and Marmo and Bel say that such selfish behavior is what the Jikochuu do, especially the daughter of King Jikochuu himself. Their words cause Regina’s eyes to turn red again. She’s determined to take the Royal Crystals by any means, even if that means breaking her promise to Mana. Regina summons the suitcase Jikochuu and commands it to defeat Pretty Cure and steal the Royal Crystals. A mouth comes out of the Jikochuu’s mouth, and another mouth comes out of that mouth, and so on and so forth until one of the mouths is almost close enough to get to the Royal Crystals. The four Pretty Cures block it from reaching the crystals, though. Regina tells Pretty Cure to hand over the Royal Crystals or they’ll never be able to leave. The team refuses. Cure Diamond says that the world they’re in is inside a Jikochuu, so purifying the Jikochuu should send them back to Earth. If Diamond’s right, then either the suitcase Jikochuu that’s attacking them isn’t the same as the suitcase Jikochuu that swallowed them… or the suitcase Jikochuu is somehow ''inside itself. The Jikochuu lunges forward to try to grab the Royal Crystals, but the team pushes back against it. Cure Heart tells Regina that promises are meant to be kept, not broken. Then, Pretty Cure throws the Jikochuu away from the table and uses Lovely Force Arrow on it. The Jikochuu is defeated, and in its place forms a portal that sucks Pretty Cure, Ai, the villains, and the Royal Crystals in, sending them back to Earth. The Psyche from the purified Jikochuu also flies off and goes who knows where. Hopefully that Psyche didn’t come from the Trump Kingdom, or some poor person is going to get a huge culture shock. Speaking of unfortunate events, Regina grabbed all five of the Royal Crystals while they were travelling through the portal. Smirking, she brings all five of them together. Suddenly, all five Royal Crystals glow and then fly away to some distant location. With everyone looking on in shock, the episode ends. Overall: As you could see in the first few paragraphs, I was a bit worried about this episode. I thought that it might ruin the tense tone or be too derivative of Smile Pretty Cure! to be interesting. However, the high stakes remained throughout. The girls weren’t just fighting to get back home; they were fighting for the Royal Crystals, and by extension, the fate of the entire Trump Kingdom. The episode was directly relevant to the plot. I liked how this episode showed the abilities of all four warriors when they worked together. One of the ways this episode differs from Smile is that in each game, the heroines worked together and the villains worked together. In Smile, each game was one Pretty Cure against one villain, so it didn’t have as much of a focus on teamwork. I also like that Ira, Marmo, and Bel are back in action. Ever since Regina started fighting in episode 15, they haven’t done much at all. Plus, the Jikochuu Trio was shown in a more comedic angle than usual. It was fun seeing them comically interact with each other. One of the questions I have after watching this episode is what exactly is causing Regina’s eyes to turn red. I thought it was the red Royal Crystal, but after it and the other crystals flew away, Regina’s eyes remained red. Also, even in the proximity of the red Royal Crystal, Regina’s eyes turned blue again simply because Regina considered not breaking her promise. This may point to Regina’s eyes turning red when she’s selfish, but that doesn’t make sense. Regina acted very selfishly in episode 15 when she attacked Mana/Maya’s friends, but her eyes remained blue the whole time. And with that, join me next time when the dub rejoins us and tries to make do with as little of this episode as possible! Next time: Pretty Cure/the Glitter Force and Regina find the princess at long last! Category:Blog posts